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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28190706">Beauty Thief (WIP)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dejojack/pseuds/dejojack'>dejojack</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:07:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,521</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28190706</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dejojack/pseuds/dejojack</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mainly made for two purposes. One: contextualize Haru in the story more and flesh out her character. Two: idk man just kinda being a cute Haru/Ren fic. This is obviously a work in progress (as even I don't exactly know how this will continue) but it will follow major story events without altering anything too drastically.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amamiya Ren/Okumura Haru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first ever fanfiction and I'm a little confused about the whole process but hey let's give this a shot</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Okay… Let's get everyone on the same page right away," Morgana uttered to Ren, glancing at the door of the small room they were in with hints of simultaneous anxiety and excitement. Ren's mind was working faster than it ever had, formulating the most dangerous gambit that the Phantom Thieves would ever pull off. He seemed to cycle through dozens of ideas in a fraction of a second, his heart racing in fear. Outing a traitor was no small task but doing so while also maintaining a façade of obliviousness made it even harder. As more and more thoughts invaded his mind, he seemed to move towards the door at the slowest speed he'd ever walked. After walking to the door for what felt like hours (although it was actually just barely over a single second) he hesitated at the door. Even if, over the next few weeks, he formulated a foolproof plan, should he tell his friends? Maybe only a few of them? Maybe none of them? Morgana did say to get everyone on the same page, but is that a good idea? Every answer seemed right and wrong at the same time, and he quickly felt his mind going into overload.</p><p>"Hey, Joker, you doing alright?" Morgana asked, somehow pulling off a concerned look on a cat face.</p><p>"Uhh, yeah, I'm fine. A little nervous, but that's alright. We've just gotta figure this out and take him down at the right moment." Being called Joker seemed to put Ren in the right headspace, as he felt his anxieties slightly diminishing. He opened the door quickly to see everyone's faces outside waiting for him, sans Akechi and Makoto. Everyone looked distressed; even Yusuke, who's calm demeanor seemed almost eerie at times, had visible worry on his face. Ren felt his mind start to race again as he saw the expressions that everyone was giving, and as he glanced at each face in turn, he only felt his fear grow. That is, until his eyes directed towards Haru's face. A look of thought made its home on her face, a nice break from the distress that Ren was looking at a moment ago.</p><p>Haru's eyes moved up to meet Ren's for a moment, and then two, and then she pulled away back down to the expression she had made earlier. Ren's mind, however, stayed in its calmer state that Haru had unknowingly brought it into. He glanced at the group again and took a deep breath.</p><p>"Eff this, man," Ryuji said, in a quieter tone than he normally would. It seemed that even he could lower his voice when enough stress made its way into his system. "I've spent this entire time hating that dumbass and now we've gotta let him join us?"</p><p>"Not only that, but when we're done… we're done," Ann said, her voice practically diminishing to a whisper by the end of her statement.</p><p>"If I may ask a question," Haru began, in her typical light voice but maintaining the level of volume that Ryuji and Ann had introduced, "is it normally this stressful when someone joins the Phantom Thieves? When I joined, Mona-chan and you all had just had a fight, so that must have been stressful. So I wonder, was it like this for all of you?" she queried, looking around at the group, her gaze generally hovering around Ren.</p><p>"Frankly, no," replied Yusuke. "It's always stressful when someone new learns of our identity, but even the debacle with you and Morgana didn't leave me with as much unease as this does."</p><p>"Gee, thanks," Morgana said, with a twinge of annoyance, but he knew that this would likely be the biggest ordeal the Phantom Thieves had dealt with.</p><p>Ren finally noticed that Futaba, who was the closest to the door when he exited the room, had been slowly slinking her way towards him throughout the entire conversation. He noticed the scared look on her face and he quickly took a large step to the side towards her, obscuring her from everyone's gaze, as if protecting her from the conversation itself. He heard her quickly adjust her body to hide as much as possible behind his.</p><p>"So, everyone, there's something that Morgana and I need to tell you all," Ren said, as the Phantom Thieves glanced up at him. "We'll need Makoto here too, but not Akechi."</p><p>"What's going on?" Ryuji pried.</p><p>"I can't say now. Let's get back to the gym. I'll tell you all soon, but for now just go along with it."</p><p>"Ughhh, I can't believe we have to do this," Ann complained. Everyone, even Yusuke, nodded in agreement. Ryuji began the walk back to the gym balcony. Ren began to walk, side by side with Haru, and Futaba followed right behind him, initially clinging to Ren's back like a junebug but slowly putting more and more distance between them as she calmed down. Yusuke and Ann brought up the rear. As they entered the gym, Akechi and Makoto were both already onstage. As soon as they all stopped walking, Akechi began speaking again.</p><p>"I'm sorry about the sudden break. An urgent task came in." Akechi continued on but Ren didn't hear any more words past that point. He was processing the fact that the face he was looking at down of the stage was the face of someone who'd been plotting his downfall for months. Even when Akechi left, he wasn't snapped out of his trance until he heard a voice pierce through his thoughts without even trying.</p><p>"Was that really our best course of action…?" Haru mumbled, seemingly afraid of being heard despite being several feet away from the main crowd, which was already cheering at a fairly high volume.</p><p>"He totally used Makoto's suggestion against us," Ann noted. At this moment, Ren entered his mental stupor again, his mind racing with a whirlwind of thoughts moving so fast he found it nearly impossible to stop and contemplate a single one for even a moment. As he allowed the whirlwind to take his mind over completely, he suddenly jolted out of his head when Morgana put one of his paws on the back of his head.</p><p>"Hey, you alright there?" Morgana said. Ren looked around to see that only he, Ryuji, and Morgana remained on the balcony, and that the crowd had died down significantly.</p><p>"You were totally out of it bro. I know it's stressful, but this isn't like you man. You're always so cool. What is it?" Ryuji asked, a concerned look on his face.</p><p>Ren gave Morgana a look, and Morgana simply gave the same one back.</p><p>"I'll tell you later. I just… have a lot to think about."</p><p>"Well yeah, you're our leader, you've probably ALWAYS got a lot to think about. But anyway, everyone else went to see the festival. Wanna go check it out? It'll probably help to get our minds off of all the shit that's going on," Ryuji suggested. Ren gave the idea a moment of thought, but he couldn't bring himself to say yes. As fun as it sounded, He just needed to return to Leblanc for a moment and start to put words to his shapeless thoughts. He gave Ryuji a half-grimace that said 'sorry' and shook his head no.</p><p>"Alright, well, I think I'm gonna find Mishima then. Lemme know if you change your mind. Later!" Ryuji said as he gave a small wave and exited the balcony.</p><p>Ren gave a sigh, and Morgana gave one too. After a moment of standing still, Ren followed Ryuji out of the room. He walked through the halls, getting closer and closer to the front door. However, as he neared it, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He stopped for a moment, pulled it out to check it, and his chest gave a slight flutter as he saw it was from Haru. That flutter grew as he opened the text and realized it wasn't in the Phantom Thieves group chat, but directly to Ren.</p><p>"The post-festival party is about to begin. Would you like to go together?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>yes i know it's corny, also the character development stuff will take another couple chapters to get into, so, sorry but if that's what you're looking for you'll have to wait</p><p>Also, title coming soon??? maybe???</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So much for heading out now," Morgana said with a slight chuckle.</p><p>"Hey, I haven't decided yet," Ren responded, as he moved the hand holding his phone down to his side. "I told Ryuji I needed to clear my head, and I think I might need just that."</p><p>"Then why are you trying to sneakily type while your hand is down there?"</p><p>Ren was, indeed, trying to respond to Haru without Morgana noticing. He had intended to type "Sure, let's go," but the resulting text ended up being "Syre, lwtw fp." Fortunately, Ren didn't hit the send button that way, so when he gave Morgana a sigh and pulled the phone up to see, he still had time to delete it. What he wasn't expecting was for Morgana to climb up onto his shoulder, reach down with a single paw, and smash the send button. It wasn't accurate, so it added an extra "ipo" before sending, but Morgana still considered his mission a success.</p><p>Ren first felt annoyance as the cat began a cackle, but that quickly washed into a feeling like his whole body went cold. He quickly shook it off, reminding himself that it was just a text. With lightning speed and precision, he sent a follow-up text, saying "Sorry, that was an accident. I'd love to go, meet me in the gym?" He whipped his head to the side and gave Morgana a glare.</p><p>Morgana suddenly realized exactly what was happening and leaped off of Ren's shoulder onto the floor in front of him. "I get it," he said, continuing his laughter from before.</p><p>"What do you get?" Ren demanded, a little too quickly and too forced to be inconspicuous.</p><p>"Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all," the cat said with a smirk. He began to walk away before hearing Ren's voice call out after him.</p><p>"Where the heck are you headed?" he asked, again more forced than he had anticipated.</p><p>"I dunno. Where you and Noir aren't. I stick around you all day, I think you can manage a single date without me, so I'm just gonna walk around and avoid being seen."</p><p>"Wait wait wait, a date? Did you just say it was a date?" Ren asked as Morgana began to leave, his cheeks flushing in a bright red. "She just asked me to spend the festival day with her, that isn't what she meant!" Ren called after Morgana, but it was too late. Morgana was already rounding a corner, clearly uninterested in continuing the conversation any longer.</p><p>Ren gave a sigh as his cheeks' color slowly began to return to their original shade, only to return to a bright red when he felt his phone buzz in his hand. He shot it up to his face and unlocked it quickly to see what Haru's response was. To his glee, it was indeed Haru who had responded. With friends like his, he never knew who else may be randomly texting him saying they also wanted to hang out. He opened his message from Haru.</p><p>"Thank you! I'll be waiting there."</p><p>Ren read the message, and his eyes widened, almost in shock. He read the message again, and again, and again, and yet again. He started chuckling at himself. If Morgana were still here, he'd have to regain his composure immediately, or else the teasing would start. However, since the cat was temporarily gone, he allowed himself to smile and, to his own surprise, giggle a little bit, before beginning his walk towards the gymnasium.</p><p>He passed through hallways that were incredibly familiar and yet, this seemed to be the longest it had ever taken for him to get to the gym. He broke out into a light jog, as there was no one else in the hallways. After all, everyone had made their way into the gym to see the post-festival party. His jog grew faster and faster until he was essentially running towards the gym. As he rounded the final corner before the gym's doors, he locked his eyes on them. However, between him and the doors stood another figure facing away from him, one he recognized, who was also heading towards the gym doors. He let out a gasp which was, to his chagrin, quite audible. The pink cardigan and fluffy auburn hair caught Ren off guard and his legs nearly locked up, but fortunately, he saved himself from falling by leaning onto the wall on his left. At this moment, the figure turned around, revealing her face to Ren. Unfortunately, the wall he happened to lean against was in fact not a wall but a door, and a door that was slightly ajar at that. Despite maintaining his balance during his initial leg lockup, he did lose it and crash into a classroom quite loudly and directly in front of Haru.</p><p>"Oh my goodness, Ren-kun, are you alright?" Haru gasped, running towards him and crouching down to get a better look. Ren, laying on his back, simply nodded and looked away. He couldn't tell exactly how red he was, but if he had to guess, it was probably similar to the shade on his Phantom Thief gloves. "Oh dear, do I need to see if the nurse is in today?" she asked. Ren convinced himself to look at her. For a moment, he let himself indulge in her coffee-brown eyes. After staring at her for a couple of seconds longer, she spoke again. "Ren-kun, should I find the nurse?"</p><p>"Oh, no, I think I'm fine. Thank you though," he said, slowly moving up into a sitting position.</p><p>"Are you sure? I'm worried, you sent a weird text and now you've just fallen, is your head alright?"</p><p>Ren gave a slight chuckle and simply asked "Are you calling me crazy?" with a smirk on his face and, less visibly, pride in his chest for somehow managing to make a joke out of a humiliating situation.</p><p>Haru looked away and giggled, as Ren leaned back on his arms, which were now outstretched behind him. He quickly assessed that only his left shoulder and the back of his head were a little sore, but it wasn't terrible. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and reopened his eyes to see that Haru was now standing up, holding her arm out to help him up. He took her hand and she yanked him up to his feet with much more force than he was expecting.</p><p>"Well, I'm sorry for the abrupt meeting, but should we go into the gym?" Ren said, moving his hand up to rub the back of his head.</p><p>"Yes, let's!" Haru responded, beginning her motion back towards the doors, and Ren followed her inside.</p><p>When they first entered, a popular song was playing and the Shujin Academy dance team was on stage, performing their routine. Their entrance was about halfway through the performance, so rather than grab seats, they elected to wait in the back. Ren personally wasn't interested in the performance, and Haru's expression told him the same thing. After another minute of music and dancing, the performance ended, and the gym began applauding. The MC retook the stage and began congratulating the dance team for their performance as Haru began to speak again.</p><p>"I'm worried about Akechi-san's proposal. He's been our rival for a while, right? What if he tries to do something?" Haru asked, a hint of fear in her voice. Despite being the most recent member of the Phantom Thieves, she was well aware of the public rivalry that Akechi had declared between him and the Phantom Thieves.</p><p>"I… I'm worried too. But for the moment, we need to work with him. And if he tries anything, we'll be right there to stop him. Everything will be alright. Alright?" Ren gave Haru a warm look, seemingly counteracting the fear in hers. She smiled and giggled slightly.</p><p>"When you say that, it feels like everything will be alright!" she said, looking directly into Ren's eyes. He quickly diverted his gaze and gave a brief nervous chuckle.</p><p>"Uhh, thanks. I, uh, uhhh, yeah," he mumbled, wanting to say another sentence but not even beginning to know what it should be. Before he could decide on something to say, the MC began announcing the next event of the post-festival party.</p><p>"And now, it's time for your favorite Shujin tradition: The Student Sharing Special! Round of applause, everyone!"</p><p>Slow, uninterested applause began to trickle out of the audience and fill the room, but only just barely.</p><p>"Sharing? I didn't know we had such an event," Haru exclaimed, accidentally overpowering the pathetic applause.</p><p>"Well, then why don't you come up and be our first volunteer?" The MC exclaimed just as loudly, happy to avoid the awkward silence that would've probably filled the room once this event started.</p><p>Ren's eyes widened, but before he could turn and give Haru an apologetic look, she was walking towards the stage. He was caught off-guard, but he decided to move to the audience and take a front-row seat, making sure to find one that had an open spot next to him. As Haru approached the microphone, the MC recognized her and began speaking again.</p><p>"O-Oh, you're… Okumura-san, correct?"</p><p>"Um, yes, that's correct."</p><p>The MC gave the audience a quick nervous glance before returning to Haru. "Oh, uhh, I'm sure you're still grieving, my deepest apologies. If you'd rather, um, exit the stage, that's fine, we can get another student.</p><p>Haru gave the MC a reassuring look. "Oh, please don't worry!"</p><p>"Uhh, okay, sooo… do you have anything you'd like to share?"</p><p>"Something to share, huh?" Haru moved her hand up to her chin as she gave a thoughtful look, unsure of what to say. "I have too many things… some positive, some negative, and I'm not sure which to say!" she said, almost regretting not taking the opportunity to leave when she had the chance.</p><p>"Well then allow me to give you a suggestion. Do you think the Phantom Thieves are really Shujin students?"</p><p>Haru gasped onstage, looking towards the back of the room to find Ren but she couldn't see him, only adding to her anxiety. The MC continued on.</p><p>"I'm sorry, I didn't realize how insensitive that sounded, with them being your father's killers." The MC was intending to continue his apology, but he stuttered on his words and simply continued with his question. "We're all wondering what Akechi-san was going to tell us, so I'm sure everyone is formulating their own theories. What do you think, Okumura-san?"</p><p>Ren began to panic. Haru was clearly distressed and so was he, he was watching her look around for him and the worry began to grow on her face. Without even thinking, he stood up.</p><p>"Do you wanna go on a date?" Ren blurted without thinking. He saw Haru's face look at his, but no look of relief had found its way onto her face.</p><p>"Huh?" was the first word spoken in the gym, by Haru herself, her voice an even higher pitch than before. Ren was jarred out of his adrenaline-fueled outburst and slammed himself back down in his chair, nearly falling out of it. The audience reacted with a combination of laughter, talking, and some students going "Oooooooh!"</p><p>The MC didn't waste a single moment. "Oh my, Okumura-san, what's your relation to this guy over here? Are we gonna see a live rejection or the beginning of a relationship?"</p><p>"Th-That wasn't what we were talking about!" said Haru, her pitch rising and her face growing even redder than Ren's when he had taken that fall earlier.</p><p>"Oh, she's so flustered! However, I'm a gentleman. It hurts my heart to bully such a sweet girl! Well, did you all enjoy our blushing beauty? Give it up for Okumura-san and… that guy sitting right there!" he exclaimed while gesturing to Ren, who had his fair share of red and a pulse that felt like it was much too high to be healthy at all.</p><p>Haru stepped her way down the steps of the stage back into the audience and sat next to Ren. The audience, of course, noticed this, and began again with their noises. The MC stayed silent, but he certainly didn't help the situation due to his sly smile, eyebrow raises, and subtle gestures to where they were sitting. Haru pulled the collar of her cardigan up to hide her face, and if Ren was able to easily do the same with his uniform, he certainly would. The male student sitting next to him gave Ren a shove in Haru's direction, forcing the two of them together. Ren quickly readjusted his seat, leaned over to Haru, and whispered "Should we go?" Haru, without a word, pulled her face out from her cardigan (which was still incredibly red) and stood up. Ren, taking the hint, stood up with her and they both walked out of the gymnasium, the audience practically cheering at this new development.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Oops, procrastinated for a month. Hopefully I'll post more frequently from here on out. Also yeah the title is pretty basic but I might change it later, at least it's something.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“That was… embarrassing,” Haru said, now standing on the rooftop. Unable to bring herself to look at him, her red face was pointed at the vegetables she was growing.</p><p><br/>
“Yeah, I… uhh… sorry.”</p><p><br/>
“No no, you’re fine.”</p><p><br/>
“No, I’m sorry, I just panicked and you were up there alone and I couldn’t leave you hanging and I knew you were looking for me and…” Ren trailed off, then let out a sigh. He looked down at the desk he was sitting on. “I probably coulda handled that better.”</p><p><br/>
“I was panicking too. I’m glad you had the bravery to do something like that!” Haru smiled and began to turn towards Ren, but immediately once he entered her peripheral vision, she turned away again. Ren noticed this and felt slightly disappointed. He knew that he had embarrassed the both of them a moment ago, but a small part of him still held out hope that something could come of his earlier exclamation. However, that small part was growing smaller by the moment and was gradually being replaced with a feeling of fear that he instead had doomed his chances.</p><p><br/>
Ren realized that he had yet to respond to Haru’s earlier statement. “Uhh, yeah,” he mumbled out, unsure of what to do or where to go. He knew that they were probably going to part ways soon, and he didn’t want that to happen. He was searching his brain for some way to keep them together a little longer, some excuse to stay on the rooftop even if it only meant for a few more minutes, but he thought of nothing. Silence filled the air for a few more seconds as he desperately tried to pluck a cohesive thought from his mind, and finally Haru spoke up.</p><p><br/>
“Um… Ren-kun? I have something for you.” Haru finally turned towards Ren, still blushing quite intensely, and outstretched her hand. “I, uhh, bought it earlier. I thought you’d like it.” In the center of her palm sat a small candy, wrapped in the shape of a flower.</p><p><br/>
Ren, not expecting this at all, looked at the candy at then once again at Haru. She was still looking away, but despite the fact that her eyes weren’t making contact with his, he still adored them and found himself looking at them silently for a moment longer than he probably should have. Haru breathed in, as though to begin speaking again as she pulled her hand back, but Ren picked up the candy from her hand before she could do so. “Thank you, Haru. I, uhh, didn’t get you anything, I’m sorry.”</p><p><br/>
“Oh, no worries!” Haru said, quickly turning her head to look at Ren. “I had planned to ask you to accompany me to the post-festival party a few days in advance, so I picked it up then! I was a little nervous to ask though, so that’s why I didn’t do so until just before the party.” She said quickly, not entirely realizing the weight of what she had just admitted. With his ability to speak revitalized by this new information, Ren responded.</p><p><br/>
“You had planned to ask me for a while?” Joker said with a smirk, acting cool on the outside but his insides feeling warmer each second he thought about it.</p><p><br/>
Haru, taken aback by what she had revealed, quickly shot the direction of her head away from Joker so he couldn’t see the slight look of panic on her face. She didn’t want to respond. Well, she did want to, but a part of her wanted him to know what she had said, and that part was currently in control of her actions.</p><p><br/>
Silence once again filled the air. Ren found himself trapped in between a state of feeling awkward and a state of feeling giddy. He knew this giddiness wouldn’t last forever, and so he decided to capitalize on it before it left him. Without thinking (because he knew if he thought, he’d get scared), he blurted out a question.</p><p><br/>
“Do you wanna get coffee at Leblanc alone sometime?” He asked, riding a wave of adrenaline, just like he did at the Student Sharing Special. Haru began to turn back toward him, and before his adrenaline wave crashed, he wanted to get another sentence out.</p><p><br/>
“You’re the newest real member of the team, so I think it’s only fitting that I should get to know you more.”</p><p><br/>
Haru, now looking directly at him and trying to suppress her own giddiness, instantly accepted the offer, and asked a question of her own.</p><p><br/>
“Oh yes, that sounds wonderful! Do you do this with every new Phantom Thief?”</p><p><br/>
“No, I don’t, actually. You’re the first one I’ve asked. And it’s partially because you’re a Phantom Thief, but also because you’re a Beauty Thief,” Joker said, flying by the seat of his pants at this point. He found his wave of courage wasn’t crashing, but in fact, growing, as Haru giggled and covered her mouth with a hand. However, that growth was stopped by another laugh he heard, this one noticeably less giggly and more cackly. More… cat-like.</p><p><br/>
The direction of Ren’s head turned to a desk next to him, as Morgana stepped out from underneath it and leaped up to sit on top of it, right next to him.</p><p><br/>
“Also because you’re a Beauty Thief? I bet you feel smooth now, don’tcha Ren?” he laughed as he looked between the two students, both desperately trying to avoid showing their faces to the other. Haru peeked out from behind her hands and began to speak with a shaky voice.</p><p><br/>
“M-Mona-chan, have you been listening this whole time?”</p><p><br/>
“Longer than you’d think. I’ve been sneaking around you two since before you even entered the gym.”</p><p><br/>
Ren, realizing what this meant, turned toward Mona again, with his eyebrows furrowed.</p><p><br/>
“So you never even left? You’ve just been following me all day? What happened to me being able to manage a single date without you?”</p><p><br/>
Morgana wanted to provide some kind of comeback, but he opted to let Haru take it from here.</p><p><br/>
“Um, Ren-kun, did I mishear you? Or… d-did you say that today was a date?”</p><p><br/>
“Oh, uh, well Haru I, I, uh…” Ren continued to mumble through his words for a moment before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He cleared his throat and reopened his eyes to see Haru’s red face staring directly at him, her eyes lit up and terrified at the same time, darting around his entire face, scanning for… something. He looked down at his feet and began to speak. “Haru, I… was really excited to see you today and Morgana called it a date. That’s what I meant, I didn’t mean to call today a date, and I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”</p><p><br/>
The excitement in Haru’s eyes began to wash out. In a small voice, she slowly nodded her head. “I see. I… see.” She slowly began to turn around, and said to Ren “Well, I think I ought to be going now. I’ll see you later!” She said, trying to feign her usual energy. She began rushing towards the door, and Ren, unable to do anything, gave a sigh. Ren heard Morgana’s voice whisper to him, in a quiet voice that still seemingly rang through his head.</p><p><br/>
“Joker, do something!” As if spurred to life, Joker brought his head up and opened his mouth, ready to speak. Right as Haru opened the door to leave the rooftop, she heard his voice.</p><p><br/>
“It was a date. At least, that’s how I want it to be. Do you?” Haru stopped dead in her tracks. She now was conflicted. On one hand, she was afraid to turn around and face another misunderstanding, but on the other hand, she desperately wanted to confirm that it wasn’t one. After a few seconds of thought, she decided to turn and face Joker, who was now standing up.</p><p><br/>
“I was also hoping that getting coffee would be a date as well. Is that okay with you?” Joker said, now able to see Haru’s face in its entirety. She let go of the door handle and stepped away from it, letting it slowly begin creaking shut as she remained on the rooftop.</p><p><br/>
“I’d like that very much,” she said, a smile growing on her face. “In fact, I’d like to remain here for a little while longer, if that’s alright with you.”</p><p><br/>
“Absolutely.” Joker gave her an earnest smile as she began to step towards him again. “And now you need to ACTUALLY scram,” He said, turning his face away from Haru and towards Morgana. Morgana reluctantly jumped off of the desk he was on.</p><p><br/>
“I really hope you can handle this from here,” he said as he slipped through the rooftop door just before it fully shut.</p><p><br/>
Ren and Haru again found themselves in silence. Ren began to open his mouth to ramble about something, anything to break this silence. However, before any noise passed through his mouth, Haru began speaking.</p><p><br/>
“Ren-kun, I have a question.”</p><p><br/>
“Uh, yeah, what is it?”</p><p><br/>
“Earlier, you said I was the newest ‘real’ member of the team. Do you not consider Akechi-kun to be a real team member, even if it’s for a short time?”</p><p><br/>
Ren gave a sigh. He and Morgana knew that something was wrong with Akechi, but he had yet to tell the team. “Uh, well, I was planning to tell the team this all at once, but I guess it won’t hurt to let you know a little earlier. Akechi… isn’t who he says he is.”</p><p><br/>
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand, is he not a detective?” Haru asked, confused and slightly embarrassed at the question she had just asked.</p><p><br/>
“No, no, what I mean is that…” he gave a sigh. “Mona and I believe that he… well he…” Ren couldn’t bring himself to say it. Haru stayed silent, but if anything, that made it worse for Ren. He had no clue how to put his thoughts into words, and even if he knew how, did he want to? He honestly just wanted to spend some more time with Haru but he knew this information would simply ruin a day that had already been inducing emotional whiplash to them both. Ren gave a second sigh and looked up at Haru. “I’ll tell you later. It’s not important.” He gave her a gentle smile, trying to mask the fear he felt towards Akechi’s true intentions.</p><p>Haru, now very concerned, pushed a little further. “Are you sure? You seem conflicted, Ren-kun. You can tell me, and we’ll go talk to him about it.”</p><p><br/>
“No,” Ren said, almost shouting. His face no longer masked the fear that he was holding. Haru jumped slightly at Ren’s sharp remark, and she spoke again instantly.</p><p><br/>
“I’m sorry!” she said instinctually, her eyes screwed shut. Ren sat back down onto the desk that he was on earlier and he took a deep breath.</p><p><br/>
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m just… worried about what might happen to the team.”</p><p><br/>
“You think he’s a threat to the team? I really think we’ll all still be friends, even if Akechi-kun forces us to stop being Phantom Thieves,” Haru said, opening her eyes and moving her gaze to the planters.</p><p><br/>
Ren didn’t respond. He didn’t know how to. He just sat, looking at Haru for a moment. There wasn’t really a breeze, but he could’ve sworn her hair was moving slightly. Every once in a while, her hair would catch a faint reflection of light from nearby buildings and shine for just a brief moment, before moving again to a new position. Haru turned towards Ren, catching his gaze and returning it for a few moments.</p><p><br/>
Ren’s mind, although it would normally be racing at a time like this, simply had one thought floating through it, that being his desire to simply stay like this forever.</p>
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